The present invention relates generally to lighting devices such as light emitting diode (LED) drivers. More particularly, an embodiment of an invention as disclosed herein relates to an electrically isolated method for digitally dimming, configuring and updating the firmware of a programmable lighting device through wireless communication and volatile memory.
Lighting devices such as light emitting diode (LED) drivers frequently have their operating parameters configured before shipping to customers for installation. Various operating parameters of the LED driver are typically re-configured at other stages of application, as for example when a driver is first removed from its packaging it may be desired to apply a default configuration to satisfy the needs for most of the LED drivers at a particular installation. Further, once a new driver is installed with other LED drivers in a luminaire, it may be required that all the drivers in the luminaire or series of luminaries receive a configuration unique to their installation.
One way for end users or LED light fixture manufacturers to be able to configure operating parameters of LED drivers in a safe, quick, and easy way is to load configuration parameters into the non-volatile storage memory medium, such as flash memory, of an integrated circuit (IC) for a near-field communication (NFC) tag in the LED driver while the LED driver itself is unpowered, through the use of a configuration device equipped with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) transceiver IC and antenna.
For LED drivers equipped with NFC technology, or otherwise implement RFID processes, it may be desired to provide isolated digital control, including two-way communication for activities such as dimming and data reporting. The two-way communication with the driver can be accomplished via an RF field, generated by the digital control device, by coupling the digital control device to the LED driver.
Known arrangements to link LED drivers to external dimming commands and/or data reporting include 0-10V analog dimming control (0-10V), digital addressable lighting interface (DALI), two-wire serial powered bus (TPSB), and digital multiplex (DMX). However, none of these interfaces naturally provide isolation. It is common for a given driver's implementation of DALI to include isolation, but this must be specifically designed for the driver and is not inherent to such systems. It is known for 0-10V and TPSB to be referenced to a floating ground, but once again the isolation must be included in the overall design. Of the aforementioned arrangements, only DALI and TPSB provide two-way communication.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a luminaire that otherwise lacks connectivity with an isolated digital control device and method to connect to a larger lighting control system. It would further be desirable for such a novel arrangement to be conveniently and reliably mountable in association with the luminaire.